Parkfield small cap on defensive

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ANDREW McDonald, manager of the £6m Parkfield UK Smaller Companies fund, has positioned the portfolio with a ‘defensive mid cap' bias amid uncertainty over UK interest rate movements and the strength of the dollar.

McDonald, whose fund has outperformed the IMA UK Smaller Companies sector since launch this February, said it would take at least until the next meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee before there is some clarity over prospects for small caps. “When we were launching it became clear that parts of the small cap and AIM market had become overheated and there were also macro economic issues to contend with,” said McDonald. “On aggregate, small caps and some mid caps tend to underperform when interest rates are rising so the bulk of the fund has been in fairly defensive mi...

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